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New Mobile Breathalyzer Is Pretty Cool

Have you ever wondered just how long it will really take for those two mint juleps to leave your system? Or what kind of effect that shot of tequila (#NoJudgement!) really has on your blood alcohol level? Now you...

Have you ever wondered just how long it will really take for those two mint juleps to leave your system? Or what kind of effect that shot of tequila (#NoJudgement!) really has on your blood alcohol level? Now you can find out -- and share the results with friends -- with BACtrack's new mobile breathalyzer, on sale today.

The Mobile Breathalyzer ($150) is a small device -- about the size of a lighter -- that syncs to your iPod or iPad via Bluetooth. After drinking (wait 15 minutes for the most accurate results, it says), you can take a reading by blowing into the device for about five seconds; a sensor analyzes your breath, and sends the reading to the app. Not only does it give you your blood alcohol content (BAC) at that moment, but it also uses "ZeroLine" technology to estimate when your BAC will return to zero.

I gave it a try and I was surprised at how easy it was to use, and how it picked up on the two glasses of red wine I had at dinner. And although the manufacturers caution that this device should not be used to judge your driving ability, it was certainly an eye opener to see how close I was to the legal limit -- even though I felt completely fine.

Here's the craziest part, though: Once you have your reading, you can share it out via Facebook or Twitter; you can even take a picture of your drink and make a note in your "drink diary" or on your social networks. This seems a bit like turning BAC readings into a game ("Hey FB, check out how wasted I am!"), but the people at BACtrack say that it's an important way to start a dialogue about how alcohol really affects our minds and bodies. If you saw a friend post his over-the-limit BAC while out at a bar, for example, you might text him and offer him a ride home -- or, at the very least, check in and make sure he gets a cab.